The proposed Beacon Building in downtown Camden would rise on a parking lot at Federal Street and Broadway, creating more than 500,000 square feet of office space next to the Walter Rand Transportation Center. — Rendering courtesy: Camden County
By Joshua Burd
The news came with great fanfare, and understandably so, for a plan that envisions the tallest commercial structure in South Jersey and the next big step in Camden’s renaissance.
Since then, officials involved with the proposed 25-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower dubbed the Beacon Building have been quietly working on how to move the project forward. That hinges on addressing several complex issues — from determining ownership and securing state incentives to attracting private-sector anchor tenants — but they’re confident in the project’s future, citing commitments from key anchor institutions and the type of cooperation that has helped other large-scale investments in the city come to fruition.
“It’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work to pull it all together,” said Jeffrey Nash, a longtime Camden County commissioner who is involved in the predevelopment phase. But the project is “full steam ahead,” he said recently, later adding: “The good news is that everyone is rowing in the same direction. Everyone knows what the mission is, what has to get done.”
That mission became public on Jan. 14 when a group of city, county and state agencies first teased plans for the Beacon Building, touting it as a complement to the sweeping redesign and reconstruction of the adjacent Walter Rand Transportation Center. But the tower, which would redevelop a parking lot at Federal Street and Broadway, would also fill a void for new multitenant office space in Camden’s growing business district, offering unmatched transit access and sweeping views of the Philadelphia skyline.
Importantly, the project has tentative commitments or strong interest from three of the city’s key anchor institutions, which Nash estimates would fill roughly half of the space. They include Cooper University Health Care, the county’s largest employer, which said the Beacon Building would support its planned $3 billion expansion nearby. The team is also in talks with the state agency that oversees Camden County’s civil courts about relocating the vicinage, while discussions are ongoing with Rutgers University about taking space at the building.
“That is a very strong start,” said Nash, who has served as CEO of the Rowan University/Rutgers Camden Board of Governors since 2023. “It gives me the great optimism that this project will come to fruition.”
The support bodes well for what is an otherwise complex and potentially delicate predevelopment process, which is being managed by the Camden County Improvement Authority. One key question is who will own the land and the building going forward, Nash said, noting that the site currently belongs to the Camden Parking Authority. Answering that is critical to being eligible for the Economic Development Authority’s Aspire tax credit program, which not only requires an equity participation by a developer but provides added benefits for certain health care or not-for-profit users.
The team also hopes to secure a “transformative” designation under the Aspire law to make it eligible for larger subsidies — the EDA has awarded up to $400 million in select cases — and make the project financially viable. What’s more, the tax credits will allow the Beacon to set rents at a level that could entice tenants from Philadelphia, the South Jersey suburbs or elsewhere.
As of early July, Nash said the county was “talking to the people who have a vested interest in the building” about being part of the ownership structure.
“There’s a lot to sort through,” he said at the time. “The good news is that everyone is very amicable and these discussions are ongoing. And, at the end of the day, I’m very confident that we’ll come to a mutually agreeable decision that will dictate who the owner of the building will be, and that allows us to apply for Aspire tax credits.”
In the meantime, the county improvement authority has hired CBRE to advise on the development and to lure additional tenants, Nash said.
“We can’t diminish the importance of filling up the building in order for whoever the owners are going to be to secure financing in this market,” he said. “Capital markets are tight, and the more tenants that we fill the building with, the greater guarantee we have to get the financing, even with the Aspire credits.”
High-end office space in Camden is hard to come by, even for the smaller to midsized users that have long dominated the South Jersey market. But bringing the Beacon online would likely hinge on securing a larger tenant, making it all the more likely that state incentives will play a major role in attracting such a company.
“If there were incentives to move to Camden, I think it’s enticing,” said Jason Wolf, a longtime broker and the founder and principal of Marlton-based Wolf Commercial Real Estate. “But I also think that, with the amount of inventory that’s floating around Cherry Hill and Pennsauken, it’s extremely competitive right now with vacancy.”
Quality office space in Camden typically runs in the mid-20s on a dollars-per-square-foot basis, Wolf said, whereas a tenant could go a mile away to Pennsauken and find rents at $16 to $20 per square foot — “so you really have to have a reason to go there, in my opinion.” That’s not lost on Nash, who said that the Beacon “becomes attractive” if it offers rents below $20 per square foot, especially given the promise of extensive mass transit access with bus, rail and light rail service at the rebuilt Walter Rand.
The project’s financial picture could become clearer as soon as this fall, he said.
“We know that we need the help of the private sector, we know that we need the help of state incentives and we know we need anchor tenants, meaning sizable, credit-worthy anchor tenants to stabilize the base to make the financing work,” Nash said. “So while this could be called visionary, it’s also a practical project that can only come to fruition if the various component parts work out.”
The Beacon would mark the latest major addition to Camden’s skyline and another high-profile sign of its revival in recent years. The Camden County Police Department recently reported that both overall and violent crime in the city were down 13 and 12 percent through the first six months of 2025, respectively, making it “one of the best statistical half-year totals in the last 50 years” and continuing a highly touted effort to make the region safer.
The city’s vaunted eds and meds corridor is also set to grow exponentially, thanks largely to Cooper University Health Care’s $3 billion Project Imagine. That’s slated to include three new patient towers and other facilities, as well as enhanced surgical and emergency services as the organization looks to address the clinical, ancillary, education, research and support service needs of its rapidly growing academic medical center campus.
Nash also pointed to Rutgers-Camden’s own expansion downtown, including the 107,000-square-foot Nursing and Science Building that opened last fall just west of the Beacon site, with additional plans in the works. And he noted that the EDA will soon issue a request for proposals for the long-vacant former Riverfront State Prison site, which represents nearly nine acres of prime real estate just north of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and directly across from Philly.
The city, with the help of major state incentives, has welcomed other new office buildings in recent years. They include American Water’s 220,000-square-foot headquarters and the 18-story, 375,000-square-foot Triad1828 tower that houses Conner Strong & Buckelew, NFI and Michaels, both directly along the Delaware River. But the Beacon would provide an infusion of Class A space in a district that has only a handful of multitenant buildings.
“Presuming that you have the civil courts in this building, it’s very attractive for law firms who are looking to do work in South Jersey,” Nash said, referring to the Beacon Building. “They would be in the same building as the courts. It doesn’t get more convenient than that.”
He agreed that trying to build a new 500,000-square-foot office tower from the ground up is a big swing, especially in today’s environment, but said “we wanted to make a statement — Camden is on the rise.”
“All of this is going on, and the cherry on the ice cream sundae is the Beacon tower,” Nash said. “We wanted to create a structure that is the tallest commercial building in southern New Jersey, and we call it the Beacon tower because the intent is for this building to be a beacon to bring people back to the city of Camden, to recognize its revitalization and to complement what is going on to bring it back to the greatness that it had years back.
“So that’s why we’re swinging for a grand slam, which may be viewed as swimming upstream, but we’re confident it’s going work.”
Camden officials tease plan for new 500,000 sq. ft. office tower at downtown transit hub
